Sandra Sazelova

• Associate Professor
• Researcher at Institute of Archeology of the CAS, Brno, Czech Republic

Using an ethnoarcheological perspective we examine Nenets site formation, seasonality and landscape usage in controlling reindeer herds in a complex system of more than 20 abandoned campsites and other sites of interest over 100 km2 and a time-span of several decades. We establish a chronology based on more than 150 expiration dates from imported f...

Taphonomic, paleopathological, and paleodemographic analyses of human remains from the Mid Upper Paleolithic of western Eurasia are increasingly documenting a diversity of mortuary behaviors among these successful Late Pleistocene foragers. These considerations are joined by three associated pairs of otherwise isolated appendicular remains from the...

This paper focuses on a special case of mortuary habit in the treatment of human bodies during the Upper Paleolithic. Human teeth present a good available raw material source; however, until now, 12 Czech and French sites have been identified with human teeth pendants dated from the Aurignacian to the Magdalenian. Our study investigates four human...

Objective Describe pathological features on internal and external aspects of the skull of an ancient grey wolf. Materials Wolf remains that were found at the southwestern settlement Area A of Gravettian site Pavlov I. Methods Visual observation and description; microcomputed tomography; porosity and fragmentation indices for internal and external...

The microscopic study fills the morphological and taphonomical gaps produced on the macroscopic research level of human and animal hard tissues. In this paper 17 burned and unburned animal bone fragment samples (smaller than 4 cm) were subjected to histological non-metric and metric analyses. Characterization of 3 wolf teeth aimed analysis of daily...

Článok predstavuje experimentálnu štúdiu zameranú na mikroskopické znaky fragmentarizácie kostí a ich systematickú odlišnosť v závislosti na zachovaní kosti a type pôsobiacej sily. Prezentovaná štúdia nadväzuje na pôvodný experiment napodobňujúci efekt kamennej lavíny na kumuláciu zvieracích kostí v rôznom stave zachovania. V článku je bližšie popí...

Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1,2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period³. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116...

Histological analysis of osteological remains from archaeological excavations provides data and information that can be difficult or impossible to obtain from macroscopic description and examination. Furthermore, the microscopic perspective provides important evidence for taxonomically indeterminate samples lacking morphologically diagnostic marks,...

Significance The microbiome plays key roles in human health, but little is known about its evolution. We investigate the evolutionary history of the African hominid oral microbiome by analyzing dental biofilms of humans and Neanderthals spanning the past 100,000 years and comparing them with those of chimpanzees, gorillas, and howler monkeys. We id...

This paper presents a discussion of Late and Final Gravettian assemblages from Western Slovakia and Moravia (25,500/24,000 – 22,000 uncal BP). Shouldered points and Kostienki knives have historically been widely used as fossiles directeurs for these assemblages and have been seen as the most reliable features for cultural attribution. Nevertheless,...

Mesolithic and Neolithic paleoanthropological finds discovered in sandstone rockshelters Abri Proškův převis, Dvojitá brána u Rohlin and Abri Pod Pradědem in Bohemian Paradise, Czech Republic (Chapters III.3.1 - III.3.2).

Zöld Cave is a recently discovered Late Epigravettian site in Hungary. It yielded a small archaeological collection dated to 17.0–14.9 ka cal BP. The findings consists of faunal remains of horse and reindeer bearing extensive marks of human activity, and lithic artifacts of hunting armature types, including curved backed points, backed truncated bl...

Last Glacial Maximum-Epigravettian-Moravia-horse hunting strategy A B S T R A C T With the end of MIS3, the unity of larger Gravettian settlements based predominantly on mammoth exploitation split into a mosaic of smaller Epi-gravettian sites with specific behaviors and economies. Based on C14 chronology , the site of Stránská skála IV (together wi...

At the time when the importance of the interdisciplinary research increases, the nuclear analytical techniques supported by the small research reactors represent a useful tool for investigation of human society, culture, history etc. The historical, archaeological, and palaeontological samples and objects of cultural heritage can be easily studied...

This paper focuses on two accumulations of horse bones at the Stránská skála IV site, dated from around the Last Glacial Maximum (Epigravettian). Osteological material was subjected to taxonomical and taphonomical analyses. The results confirmed the prevalence of horses, and quantitative analyses indicated a minimum of 10 individuals, which is the...

The formation of extensive mammoth bone deposits is a characteristic feature of the large Upper Paleolithic settlements of the Moravian Gravettian (approximately 30 ky cal BP). Some of these were preferentially deposited in moist locations, possibly for reasons of hygiene and conservation. Here, we present a case of a mammoth bone deposit located i...

The rich earlier Mid Upper Palaeolithic (Pavlovian) sites of Dolní Vĕstonice I and II and Pavlov I (∼32,000–∼30,000 cal BP) in southern Moravia (Czech Republic) have yielded a series of human burials, isolated pairs of extremities and isolated bones and teeth. The burials occurred within and adjacent to the remains of structures (‘huts’), among dom...

Large-scale excavations of complete Gravettian living-floors at Dolní Věstonice I were primarily realised between 1924–1952 whereas later fieldwork had rather a character of separate trenches. Here we report the results of last excavation organized at this site in 1990 and 1993. A series of trenches along the western and southern boundary brought a...

Cut marks left on animal bones are commonly found at archaeological sites, and the analyses based on certain differences within their micromorphological structure might help in the material determination of an artefact used in the butchery process. We present a new method for differentiating cut marks made with stone and metal tools by examining th...

Large-scale excavations of complete Gravettian living-floors at Dolní Věstonice I were primarily realised between 1924-1952 whereas later fieldwork had rather a character of separate trenches. Here we report the results of last excavation organized at this site in 1990 and 1993. A series of trenches along the western and southern boundary brought a...

This paper combines complex archaeological records from excavations of sandstone rockshelters with paleobotanical investigations in the adjacent wetlands of Northern Bohemia, Czech Republic. Several pollen diagramms from nearby peatbogs are used to document the paleoenvironmental development from the Late Glacial to the Middle Holocene. In addition...

Excavations in the 1960s in the central area of the Pavlov I site (southern Moravia, Czech Republic) produced a rich early (Pavlovian) Mid Upper Paleolithic (MUP) archeological record, abundant faunal remains, and thirty-nine human remains. The last, recently identified from the faunal collections, consist of two patellae (Pavlov 34 and 35), a part...

Survey of Holocene vertebrate record from excavation in the North Bohemian sandstone region (123 community samples, 1078 MNI 60 spp.). Comparison of regional specificities to Holocene faunal development in other regions of Central Europe.

The osteological analysis of human and animal skeletal remains from polycultural site Pasohlávky – poloostrov was focused on the Únětice culture period, dated to about 2300–1700 BC. The anthropological analysis was aimed to estimate sex, age and stature of individuals using a broad spectrum of standard mor-phoscopic and metric methods, and to descr...

Stopy ludskeho ohryzu su v archeologickom a antropologickom kontexte zdrojom informacii o socio-kulturnom pozadi skumanej sucasnej i minulej spolocnosti, ich stravovacej kulture a navykoch. Tento clanok prezentuje výber z už publikovaných metodik použivaných pri studiu tejto temy a testuje stopy ľudskeho ohryzu na experimentalnej vzorke zo Slovensk...

Human traces left on animal bones are commonly found at archeological sites and referred to the processes of animal body exploitation, such as killing, skinning, dismembering and filleting. The macroscopic and microscopic analysis of such traces (in our case cut marks) based on certain differences within their morphological structure might help in...

Pavlov I has a longer prehistory (including early Gravettian and Early Upper Paleolithic layers in the subsoil) and a more complex spatial structure (including an adjacent mammoth bone deposit) than was previously thought.

The formation of the large site clusters of the Gravettian (Pavlovian) represents one of the final effects of modern human adaptation in central Europe, but chronology of the site formation processes at such sites are still little understood. Here we present new evidence from Pavlov I, a site now prepared for the construction of a museum and subjec...

Due to the recent mapping and study of soil micro-morphology of the New brickyard at Horky nad Jizerou we were able to revise the sequence documented in the 1950s and 1960s in the Old brickyard. Sediments from Horky nad Jizerou document the evolution of loess sedimentation from at least MIS 15 to the pleniglacial of last glaciation (MIS 2). The dev...

Ethnological analogies derived from studies of recent environments and societies in Arctic and Subarctic regions of Siberia are generally being applied in archaeological interpretative models. The analogies prove to be inspiring, because each of them has the potential to enlarge the scope of static archaeological evidence by including dynamic aspec...

Compared to the long-term Late Glacial/Holocene record from the nearby rockshelter at Údolí Samoty (Svoboda et al. 2013), the occupation of the Malý Medvědí Tábor rockshelter was rather episodic (Tab. 1, Fig. 4). Nevertheless, the site is of domestic character, as suggested by the richness of artefacts, a larger proportion of cores, and the level o...

The complex of sites of Předmostí is one of the most famous in the Central Europe. The site Předmostí III has been excavated several times during the last thirty years. This article focuses on the materials discovered in 1982 and 1983. The lithic industry has been knapped in situ on radiolarite river pebbles. The association of a Kostenki’ knife wi...

Creating an overall scheme of Gravettian stratigraphy and chronology in the Middle Danube area is a matter of current debate. This paper addresses the formation of microstratigraphies at large open-air sites, evidence of the earliest Gravettian occupation in the Dolní Věstonice-Pavlov area, and occurrence of early ceramics from this context. The ca...

The complex of sites of Předmostí is one of the most famous in the Central Europe. The site Předmostí III has been excavated several times during the last thirty years. This article focuses on the materials discovered in 1982 and 1983. The lithic industry has been knapped in situ on radiolarite river pebbles. The association of a Kostenki’ knife wi...

In this paper we apply an ethnoarcheological approach to questions arising from archaeological studies of Upper Paleolithic settlements in Europe concerning the role of children and their activities in site formation processes.

This paper is an addition to a series of previous publications discussing the recent Mesolithic discoveries in the sandstone areas of Northern Bohemia, Czech Republic (Svoboda 2003; Svoboda et al. 2007; Šída / Prostředník 2007; Šída / Prostředník / Kuneš 2011). During the 2007-2011 research, previously un known Late Palaeolithic horizons have come...

A promising way to address the patterns of Early Modern Human settlement strategies in Africa and Europe is comparing the spatial distributions and densities of lithic artefact scatters in perspective areas. Here we present new evidence on spatial distribution and techno/typology of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) occupation in the Blue Nile Gorge, Orom...

Mladeč caves is a complex cave system that includes two key paleoanthropological findspots of Early Upper Paleolithic age - Mladeč Ib, Mladeč II, and probably also site Ia, discovered during the 19th and early 20th century. The dynamics of sediment deposition and transport inside the system is still being debated. Here we contribute new field obser...

The Dolní Věstonice–Pavlov–Milovice area (Czech Republic) on the slopes of the Pavlov Hills provides an opportunity for correlating the geomorphology of the Dyje River valley with Gravettian settlement patterns. Although the sites vary in size and complexity, they create a regular chain of strategic locations at elevations between 200 m and 240 m a...

The aim of this paper is to present and discuss empirical evidence on the dynamics of occupation and site formation processes from contemporary mobile campsites in Northwest Siberia. The questions posed are derived generally from archaeological studies of Upper Paleolithic record in Europe. We document the active Nenets summer camps at lakes and th...

Since the Gravettian zoomorphic figurines from Moravia have been discovered, the focus of archaeological publications has been on topics of connection between perishable or stable material and usage of the object, by the symbolism of zoomorphic figurine, and finally by their importance for the individual person or a whole society. The aim of the ch...

Archaeological rescue research at gravettian locality Milovice IV (district Břeclav), which brought complex and multidisciplinary results.

We documented active nomadic campsites at lakes and abandoned winter and spring sites in the tundra. The scope of these comparisons is enriched by Upper Paleolithic evidence from central Europe.